Merchant of Venice, The

Synopsis: Video recording of The Merchant of Venice directed for the 2001 Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival by Richard Monette. Paul Soles is Shylock.
Language: English
Country: Canada
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 28 May 2001

Theatre: Festival Theatre, Stratford, Ontario
Theatre company: Stratford Shakespeare Company, Ontario
Production type: Stage Recordings
Historical period: Renaissance Italy
Plays: Merchant of Venice, The
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival

History: The play ran at the Festival Theatre from 8 May-3 November 2001.
Reviews: Ward, Royal. Shakespeare Bulletin 20, no. 2 (2002): 35-36.

Hoile, Christopher www.stage-door.org (accessed 1/2008). Hoile writes `...his [Monette’s] rudimentary blocking has more to do with abstract patterns than with communicating characters’ relationships. It is as if there were a large X across the Festival Theatre stage. In virtually every scene Monette lines up the actors along one or both of these diagonals. The character with the longest speech stands in the centre of the X to be replaced after a shuffle with the next character with a long speech. One notices this pattern within the first half hour. Two and a half more hours do not make it more interesting. Since the pattern is unrelated to the dramatic action, the effect is more like seeing a dull pageant than a play with any pretense to realism’. Hoile also criticises the production for what he sees as racial stereotyping of the Princes.

British Universities Film & Video Council